It is fair to say Tom Smith has had plenty of worse days this season. Equally that none has been better in his career to date than the penultimate one of the 250th Roses contest at this ground.

Prior to this round of Division One matches, all-rounder Smith's top score had been seven in a paltry tally of 31 runs in eight visits to the middle; with the ball he had not managed three wickets in an innings. Little wonder his team-mates, gathered on the steps of the players' viewing area, celebrated a maiden County Championship hundred so rapturously shortly before lunch, then mobbed him when his fourth success, in the evening gloom, left Yorkshire contemplating a follow-on tomorrow.

At 24, Smith is still seeking identity as a first-class cricketer but prolonged attempts to convert him into an opening batsman should be consigned to history on this evidence. Unbeaten on 46 overnight, having come in with the innings stalling on 198 for four, the left-hander ensured Lancashire could assert scoreboard pressure on the old enemy with some classy strokes. It was from his most agricultural, however, a clout through midwicket off the part-time spinner Joe Sayers, that he reached three figures.

Lancashire declared in the next over when Kyle Hogg became leg-spinner Adil Rashid's second stumping victim of the morning session. Then, after his captain Glen Chapple set the tone with an opening burst of 6-3-6-2 – comprising the removal of Adam Lyth and Anthony McGrath, the division's leading run-getters – Smith profited in overcast conditions. Headingley pitches of recent vintage have been like high-street savings accounts: you barely get out of them what you put in. So, having watched their adversaries toil for four sessions, Lancashire's attack took note and relied on atmospherics. Instead of banging the ball into the surface, they sought movement from a full length and were rewarded handsomely: His three successes in the afternoon reduced Yorkshire to 55 for five and he later concluded Rashid's counter-attacking 65 with a contentious leg-before decision, to leave the hosts 68 short of making Lancashire bat again.

Ajmal Shahzad, inevitably stiff but thankful for the 29 overs here, which represented his first sustained bowl in a month, will have to do something special with the bat to get the chance to turn his arm over again, ahead of joining up with England for the second Test against Bangladesh at Old Trafford.

Meanwhile, Nottinghamshire struggled again, this time against promoted Essex, suggesting the title race is wide open. Essex enter the final day 264 runs ahead with eight wickets intact after Ravi Bopara's unbeaten 57. Worcestershire continue to exceed expectation in Division Two and will be confident of a fourth win of the season, which would see them leapfrog promotion rivals Gloucestershire and Sussex in the table. Gloucestershire resume 46 runs ahead with five second-innings wickets intact at New Road, after Moeen Ali hit 106 in the hosts' 388. Two more centurions, Owais Shah and Neil Dexter, shared a stand of 266 to steer Middlesex from a perilous 35 for three towards a seemingly inevitable draw with Leicestershire at Grace Road.